Microsoft Secures GPU Licenses, Deploys GPUs to UAE

Microsoft secured U.S. Commerce Department export licenses to ship more than 60,000 Nvidia GPUs — including advanced GB300/Grace Blackwell chips — to the United Arab Emirates, and says roughly 21,500 A100-equivalent GPUs have already been deployed there. The licenses were approved with what officials described as "stringent" security safeguards and have been framed by analysts and officials as a U.S. "managed diffusion" approach to bring trusted partners into the American AI ecosystem. The shipments are part of a broader $15.2 billion Microsoft commitment to the UAE since 2023, including a $7.9 billion pledge for 2026–2029 covering about $5.5 billion in AI/cloud capital expenditures and $2.4 billion in operating costs, plus roughly a $1.5 billion equity investment in sovereign AI firm G42. Microsoft says the GPUs will enable governments, enterprises, startups and developers in the region to run advanced models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers and Microsoft while supporting data centers, sovereign cloud offerings, talent programs and AI governance. The approvals drew attention because they contrast with President Trump’s public remarks that the most advanced chips would not be allowed to be exported to certain countries like China.